Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi today issued a decree allowing military trials for civilians who are suspected of committing crimes against vital and public facilities, days after a major terror attack killed 31 soldiers.
The decree also added that the armed forces and police will coordinate to protect these facilities against terroristic attacks.
The facilities include stations, power networks and towers, gas and oil fields, rail lines, road networks, bridges, and others, according to a statement by presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef.
The law will remain in place for two years, Youssef added.
The decree came after Sisi vowed a tough response on the terror attacks that targeted military and police personnel following a major attack at a military checkpoint that killed at least 31 Egyptian soldiers last Friday in the restive North Sinai Governorate.
The decree was issued after a consultations with the National Defence Council, which held an emergency meeting following the attack, Youssef said.
The new presidential decree will allow referring civilians to military trial, an issue that has caused much controversy in the past and was rejected by activists.
The Egyptian constitution bans military trials for civilians except in cases which represent a direct assault on armed forces institutions, their camps or anything that falls under their authority, alongside assaults on military or border zones, and military institutions, vehicles, weapons, ammunition, documents, secrets, public funds, or factories.
The article was widely criticised by activists as well as human rights organisations.
The No Military Trials for Civilians group especially campaigned against the article during the drafting of the constitution and called for its revocation.
Egypt has been witnessing an increase in the number of militant attacks since ousting of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi from power in July, 2013.
